5/2/14 1 European Presence • Since 1492 Spain was controlling much of Caribbean • By mid-1800s it was losing power there • Starts cracking down hard on Cuban dissidents Valeriano Weyler’s “Reconcentration” Policy 1896 Cuban Reconcentration Camps • 1/3 of Cuban population in camps • Est. 400,000 Cubans died Spanish-American War 1898-1901 • By 1898 it still controlled only Cuba & Puerto Rico in the Caribbean • Cuba wanted freedom from Spain • US had business interests in Cuba & ppl living there • Theodore Roosevelt & the Rough Riders (not yet president) went there to fight the Spanish Military Bases
6
Embed
Valeriano Weyler s Cuban Reconcentration Camps ... · The Cuban “Melodrama” The Spanish-American War: 1898 Remember the Maine! To Hell with Spain! 260 sailors dead U.S. defeats
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
5/2/14
1
European Presence
• Since 1492 Spain was controlling much of Caribbean
• By mid-1800s it was losing power there
• Starts cracking down hard on Cuban dissidents
Valeriano Weyler’s “Reconcentration” Policy 1896
Cuban Reconcentration Camps
• 1/3 of Cuban population in camps
• Est. 400,000 Cubans died
Spanish-American War 1898-1901
• By 1898 it still controlled only Cuba & Puerto Rico in the Caribbean
• Cuba wanted freedom from Spain • US had business interests in Cuba &
ppl living there • Theodore Roosevelt & the Rough
Riders (not yet president) went there to fight the Spanish
Military Bases
5/2/14
2
The Cuban “Melodrama”
The Spanish-American War: 1898
Remember the Maine! To Hell with Spain!
260 sailors dead
U.S. defeats Spain
• And gets Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam – Cuba doesn’t want to be a territory of
the US
Cuban “Independence?”
Senator Orville Platt
Platt Amendment (1903) 1. Cuba was not to enter into any agreements with foreign powers that would endanger its independence.
2. The U.S. could intervene in Cuban affairs if necessary to maintain an efficient, independent govt.
3. Cuba must lease Guantanamo Bay to the U.S. for naval and coaling station.
4. Cuba must not build up an excessive public debt.
American Soldiers in Cuba in 1902
What the US Fought For
5/2/14
3
Fulgencio Batista
Leader of Cuba 1940-1959
Fidel Castro as a Young
Revolutionary
Cuban “Young Pioneers”
What were some of Dictator Castro’s reforms?
Fidel Castro’s Reforms
• Redistribution of land • Improved healthcare • Reducing racism • Reducing illiteracy • Spread electricity to most of the
island • Built hospitals & schools
Criticism of Fidel Castro
• Limited political power of the people – Jailed political opponents – Would not allow elections
• Nationalized major industries – Abolished most pvt businesses – Leading to shortages of goods
• Limited freedom of speech/press • Limited housing availability
The Bay of Pigs Fiasco: 1961
5/2/14
4
The Bay of Pigs Fiasco: 1961 The US “Lays an Egg?”
Cuba is 90 Miles from the Florida Coast
A Soviet “Client-State”
The Cuban Missile Crisis:
October, 1962
Soviet-Cuban Construction Soviet-Cuban Construction
5/2/14
5
Global Thermal Nuclear War? Range of the Cuban Missiles